LIVE UNITED TEXARKANA BOWL
TEXAS A&M COMMERCE vs. HARDING
December 7 @ 12 PM CST
Razorback Stadium
Texarkana, Arkansas


Texas A&M Commerce (7-4) v. Harding (8-2): Saturday, December 7 at 12 p.m. CST Kickoff
Texarkana, AR

POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER. PREVIEW COMING WHEN GAME IS RE-SCHEDULED.
Rescheduled for Friday, December 13th at 6pm.


HEART OF TEXAS BOWL
TARLETON STATE vs. OUACHITA BAPTIST
December 7 @ 6:30 PM CST
Bulldawg Stadium
Copperas Cove, Texas

Tarleton State (7-3) v. Ouachita Baptist (7-3): Saturday, December 7 at 6:30 p.m. CST Kickoff
Copperas Cove, TX

Sorry Tarleton State and Ouachita Baptist Fans…BOWL GAME CANCELLED!



Playoff Thoughts:- Four games are scheduled for this Quarterfinal weekend with 8 teams remaining in the playoffs.
-SR1: West Chester @ Shepherd: (11 AM CST)
-SR2: North Alabama @ Lenoir-Rhyne (11 AM CST)
-SR3: St. Cloud @ Northwest Missouri (NOON CST)
-St. Cloud and West Texas A&M are the only 6-seeds left in the playoffs.

Brief Recap from the WT v. Ohio Dominican game:
Ohio Dominican came out and scored on their first drive to give them a 7-point lead. The two teams then exchanged 8 punts until WT worked up a 14 play drive to tie the game at 7 with 2:14 remaining in the first half. ODU came out and scored WT came out ready to go in the second half and scored on their very first drive of the second half, similar to the first half. However, WT blocked the extra point and the score was 13 to 7 in favor of ODU. WT answered with 2 FGs and and 2 TDs to take a 27 to 13 lead midway through the 4th quarter. ODU responded with a TD of their own by intercepting Vaughn and claiming good field position. WT came right back with a 31 yard strike to Anthony Johnson. ODU once again responded with another TD making the score 34 to 27 in favor of WT. The buffaloes received the ball with a little over a minute remaining and were able to convert a 1st down and seal the victory. In this game, WT racked up 416 passing yards and rushed for over 100 yards to be efficient in the passing game. The buffaloes were also able to come away with critical turnovers that helped lift them to a victory, with one coming in the endzone and the other coming on an ODU drive in the WT red zone. The 2 turnovers, good defensive play and the WT passing efficiency helped the buffaloes move on to the next round. QB Vaughn, WR Anthony Johnson and WR Torrence Allen each had a big day against ODU.






NCAA PLAYOFFS – REGIONAL FINALS
QUARTERFINAL ROUND
WEST TEXAS A&M vs. GRAND VALLEY STATE
December 7 @ 12 PM CST
Lubbers Stadium
Allendale, Michigan


#17/19 West Texas A&M @ #23/22 Grand Valley State: Saturday, November 23 at 12 p.m. CST Kickoff
Allendale, MI Lubbers Stadium

The West Texas A&M Buffaloes make their return to Lubbers Stadium this Saturday. I put a picture from the 2010 WT-GV game above for a look back into the past. The last time the Buffs played at Grand Valley, they fell 34 to 31, barely losing to the Lakers in 2010. They make their return after 3 years have passed and only a few players on both teams remain that remember the 2010 game in Allendale. The last time these teams met, it took 5 WT turnovers for the Lakers to get a win, 4 INTs and 1 fumble. Even with the turnovers, WT fought hard and came up short. The Lakers and Buffs have only met twice and Grand Valley leads the series at 2-0. Ironically, the first time that Grand Valley played the Buffs in 2009 was the last time that the Lakers made it to Florence, Alabama.

WT is the only team from last year that has advanced to the same place where they were last year in the playoffs. The rest of the teams are either out or have moved on further than they were last year. The buffs are once again proving that they are true road warriors in the playoffs going 5-1 on the road in the playoffs since 2012.

Weather: The weather looks to be 21 F around the noon hour with winds at 12 mph and overcast. A very cold game for both teams.

Grand Valley is coming into this game on a 7-game winning streak and had to rally last week against Colorado State Pueblo to advance. Also, the Lakers are undefeated in home games this season at 8-0 and have a 19-2 record in home playoff games in their history, a point that should be brought up in this analysis. They will try to make it 9-0 against a road-tested WT team. Grand Valley has been plagued with all sorts of injuries from losing their starting RB to their QB getting hurt a while back. Their QB is fine but the starting RB is done for the season and their 2nd RB is coming back from an injury.

The Lakers are lead by Quarterback Heath Parling. Parling has thrown for 1,983 yards and 22 TDs with 7 INTs. He missed several games early in the season with an injury. Parling has a 58.1 completion percentage and a 165.3 efficiency rating. The other force on the offense are the RBs. Currently, the Lakers are using Robinson and Spencer. Robinson comes in with 801 yards and 6 TDS, while Spencer has 429 yards and 2 TDs. At the receiver position, the Lakers are lead by Brandan Green, who has 1081 yards receiving and 5 TDs.

The Buffaloes are lead by Harlon Hill Candidate, Dustin Vaughn. Vaughn has thrown for 5,004 yards and 49 TDs with 7 INTs. Vaughn has a 66.4 completion percentage and a 158.2 efficiency rating. At the Running back position, the Buffs are lead by Aaron Harris, who has 844 yards and 11 TDs. In the receiving core the buffs are lead by two standouts, WR Torrence Allen has 1,527 receiving yards with 11 TDs and WR Anthony Johnson has 1,129 receiving yards with 12 TDs. Let’s get to the stats of both these teams.
West Texas Grand Valley
()-indicates national ranking
Scoring Offense (avg/g) 47.5 (3) 36.7 (36)
Total Offense (avg/g) 506 (8) 453.1 (39)
Total Defense (avg/g) 398.8 (94) 367.7 (58)
Rushing Offense (yds/g) 110.1 (134) 205.9 (33)
Rushing Defense (yds/g) 165 (88) 173.6 (105)
Passing Offense (avg/g) 395.9 (2) 247.2 (65)
Passing Defense (avg/g) 233.8 (101) 194.1 (30)
Kickoff Return (avg) 29.59 (1) 20.85 (61)
Punt Return (avg) 12.42 (34) 6.8 (110)
INTs 13 (tied 63) 18 (tied 13)
Sacks by 38 (23) 26 (tied 77)
Sacks Against 28 (99) 27 (94)
Turnover Margin (avg/g) 1.5 (7) 0.5 (45)
Redzone Offense (pct) 92% (5) 84.1% (37)
Redzone Defense (pct) 69.2% (26) 73.5% (52)
Tackles For Loss (TFLs) 127 (3) 88 (70)

In terms of scoring points, WT has scored 617 points, while giving up 320 points. Grand Valley has scored 477 points, while giving up 309 points. WT has scored 140 more points than GV and WT has given up 11 more points to opponents than GV.

I will have to admit that I am looking forward to seeing West Texas play Grand Valley, again. There is a lot of respect for both of these programs in Division 2 and to have them meeting in the quarterfinals makes it that much better. These two programs are used to playing for the big crowds in D2 football while averaging the top attendances in D2 football each year. Looking at the stats, the offensive stats are clearly favored for the Buffs, excluding the run game. The defensive stats are clearly favoring Grand Valley. What stands out? Special Teams, Turnover Margin and Tackles for Losses. WT leads the nation in Kick Return with 3 KR TDs and is highly ranked in Punt Return, on top of that, they have a top punter and a top place kicker in Sergillo Castillo, who played in the 2010 game against Grand Valley. The Lakers have been burned in Special Teams, especially if you look at the game film when they played Ohio Dominican. WT has only given up one real big special teams play and that was a KR TD in the ENMU game. Another factor is the turnover ratio. WT has a +19 turnover ratio and has only turned the ball over 11 times, all season. This could be the real difference-maker in this game. The only common opponent for these two teams is Ohio Dominican. Grand Valley lost to ODU 57-14 and WT beat ODU last week, 34-27.

Ultimately, what does this game come down to? I think it will come down to who is playing better ball, who can take full advantage on special teams and who wins the turnover margin. West Texas has really turned it on over the last several weeks and is rarely turning the ball over, is playing great special teams and is forcing turnovers. On the other hand, Grand Valley did not look clean at all last week against CSUP and turned the ball over 3 times, while giving a good chunk of passing yards to the number 21 passing team in the nation. GV had a multitude of bad snaps, bad passes and had to rally back from an early deficit. Except for CSUP, GV has not played any top 25 passing teams in the nation and WT is one of the premier passing teams that have not been stopped by any of the top passing defense teams, and they have played several (Indianapolis, W. Georgia and Midwestern State). CSUP ranked higher in passing yards than Saginaw Valley (best passing team GV faced before CSUP) and GV had trouble stopping the CSUP passing game. The WT offense is better than the 2009 and 2010 offense that the Lakers saw. Quarterback Dustin Vaughn is the best Quarterback to come through West Texas and one of the best in the country; moreover, this is one of the best receiving cores that the Buffaloes have put on the field. Grand Valley will definitely score some points, for sure. However, I think WT will score more.

Prediction: West Texas A&M 35 Grand Valley 31

Other Notes: The WT v. Grand Valley game will be available online via stats, audio or video through the Grand Valley Athletics website. Also, the game will be broadcasted through the Amarillo area on KAMR channel 4 with Michael Spencer and Andy Justus as the broadcast team.


Thanks for reading and travel safely to your sporting events!

Feel free to contact me with any questions in regards to LSC football. [email protected]